Studio Sitges, Sitges, Spain

architectural detail / merit

The Sitges Studio’s door-within-a-door is a clever piece of ironmongery, but it’s no mere parlor trick. The smaller “pilot door” is the building’s primary entrance, explains architect Tom Kundig, FAIA. The larger door opens the entry courtyard to the house’s living space for large gatherings. “One door is for landscape use and one is for access use,” he says. With a second, private courtyard on the opposite side of the house, “the circulation flows from landscape to interior to landscape.” Our jury called the assembly “a contemporary take on the Renaissance idea of two scales of door—one for guests and ceremonial use, one for every day.”